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Buyer's Guide

What is IPS? Does higher IPS mean higher productivity? Should I always purchase a laser engraver with the highest IPS?

There are several things to consider here. First of all, is quality an issue? Do you want a fast laser engraver, or do you want an efficient one that is able to deliver high quality?

A laser engraver’s productivity is the number of jobs it can accomplish during a period of time. Real productivity, productivity that guarantees high quality, depends on several factors in addition to speed. In fact, speed is one of the least important factors for real productivity. Here’s why:

Speed and Acceleration

The speed of a laser engraver is measured by IPS (inches per second). IPS indicates how fast the laser carriage travels, but not necessarily how fast the laser engraver works. Just like the top speed of a car, it takes the laser carriage a certain amount of time and distance to reach its maximum IPS. That is why when you engrave small items, the laser carriage may never achieve its full speed.

The LaserPro Explorer’s patented SmartACT technology bypasses this by reducing the amount of time needed for acceleration. It is an excellent feature that allows the laser carriage to travel and fire more coherently.

Laser Tube Pulsing Speed

The laser tube pulsing speed, however, is very crucial to real productivity. When it comes to laser engraving, speed of the laser carriage must balance the laser tube pulsing speed to achieve maximum efficiency and quality. The laser tube pulsing speed is the amount of time a laser tube requires to generate enough energy to engrave. When the tube pulsing speed is not high enough to match the high IPS, you will not perform high quality engraving or cutting. At 100% speed, you will almost always get bad quality. Without quality, productivity is meaningless. This is why while a laser engraver may have the highest IPS, it may not be the most productive one.

Application Requirement

Productivity is also dependent on the specific application that is performed. For example, if you are engraving a stamp, you can either increase the power or decrease the speed to achieve the deepness you want. At a lower speed, the laser will have enough time to reach more power per linear inch of surface traveling. In cases like this where high power density is required, the IPS of a laser engraver is not important. At high speeds, laser engravers will only produce poor engraving quality.

Purchasing a Laser Engraver

Next time you purchase a laser engraver, be sure you remember that higher IPS does not necessarily mean higher productivity. You should also consider whether or not the laser engraver is capable of working at a high pulsing speed, and whether or not your specific application requires such a high speed. Instead of checking how fast the laser carriage travels, be sure you check how much time the laser engraver needs to accomplish a high quality job by testing it on a 2”*10” black square at 100% speed and 300DPI and measuring the time consumed to finish the job.

Why GCC integrates Synrad laser tube to its CO2 laser engravers?

Laser tube is the most critical component of a laser engraver, GCC only works with world class leaders. Synrad was founded in 1984, a member of GSI group (NASDAQ: GSIG), there are over 175,000 Synrad lasers in use throughout the world. Synrad laser tubes are well-known for the reliability and longevity in the field with patented “All Metal” sealed tube maintains high gas purity to achieve long operating life. Laser tube on Synrad Life Test have passed 45,000 hours and are still going strong. When the laser has reached the end of its useful life, a simple gas refill will restore the laser to full power.

More than that, Synrad Ti series for example, built on a patented Hybrid resonator design, a combination of slab and waveguide resonator to get the best of two world, high power while symmetric beam quality. Excellent beam quality with smallest achievable spot size or max. power density, result in faster processing speed. The rise and fall time of Synrad Ti series laser is typical <50usec., again delivers a higher processing throughput.

Is there an easy way to create artwork in the center of irregularly-shaped object?

SmartCENTER is an enhanced function of "Center Mode”, designed for easy setup to find the center point on the working object, even on polygonal and circular objects. The user-friendly feature allows you to operate effortlessly and time-saving. Learn how to setup: Video link

Can both Stellar Mark C-Series and I-Series make 3D images inside a crystal?

Stellar Mark I-Series (1064 nm) and C-Series (10600 nm) are designed for surface marking on metal and non metal objects; to make 3D images inside a crystal a DPSS (Nd:YAG or Nd:YVO4) laser system will be required a shorter wavelength at 532 nm (green laser), 3 axis mechanical design of moving table with a special 3D engraving software to achieve the work.

With the current design of Stellar Mark C and I-Series, surface marking of simple texts, 2D images and cutting application (non metal material) are most recommended.

Is any special software required with Stellar Mark I-Series?

Stellar Mark I-Series uses the same software as Stellar Mark C-Series – G-Mark Advance. G-mark Advance is one of the most powerful marking software programs in market. It helps you to meet the needs of all your clients.

With image tools like GrayScale, Contrast, Solarize, and more, G-Mark Advance will allow you to process a better, more varied image than the others.

G-Mark Advance can network with a host computers and is able to set different user levels and passwords, increasing system flexibility and enhancing overall performance.

Can Stellar Mark I-Series perform serialization?

Stellar Mark I-Series is excellent for marking barcodes, day/date codes, part number serialization, data matrix coding, and many other traceability markings.

How fast can Stellar Mark I-Series mark?

Marking and engraving with YVO4 lasers is very fast and efficient. Depending on the material and the mark, Stellar Mark I-Series can mark up to 300 characters per second, and the marks are still distinct and precise!

What is the largest working area that Stellar Mark I-Series can mark or engrave?

The largest marking field is 180 x 180 mm with the interchangeable lens feature.